Wrestling was reinstated as an Olympic sport Sunday, at the 125th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Buenos Aires. Including the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, wrestling will remain as one of the Summer Olympic sports for three Games, through 2024. 

The sport won by a majority of the 49 votes cast by IOC members, receiving more votes than baseball/softball and squash, two other events up for inclusion. Softball/baseball received 24 votes, while squash had 22.

It was apparent that the Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA)’s effort to change and improve the game paid off, as it caught the eyes of IOC members once again.

Under a new form of governance, FILA sparked major changes in the sport through implementing new rules and better presentation to attract more youth audiences. Furthermore, FILA has found ways to increase the athletes’ participation as well as the number of women at the board position over the past months.

“Wrestling is not a new sport, but the wrestling we are presenting now is new wrestling,” said FILA President Nenad Lalovic, commenting on his team’s hard work after the moment of jubilation.

The improvement of wrestling has clearly gained the full approval from the head of IOC as well.

“Wrestling has shown great passion and resilience in the last few months,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge after the announcement of sport's return. “We are happy to have wrestling on the Olympic program in 2020 and 2024.”

Rio 2016 was expected to be the last Olympic participation for the event, as it was previously dropped from the 2020 Olympic program in February after IOC evaluated the performances of 26 sports based on TV ratings, ticket sales, as well as overall popularity.

Besides Paris in 1900, wrestling has been part of every single Olympics since the beginning of the modern Games in 1896. 

Although wrestling is back on the event list for the Summer Olympics in the next 7 years, the future of the ancient sport is still unsure as it is currently placed in Group D, the second-to-last group for the IOC’s funding distribution groupings.

In order to stabilize its position, wrestling’s general appeal to the younger population in the next decades will be the key to its success.

“I'd like to see the momentum generated from the 'Save Olympic Wrestling' campaign continued towards promoting men's and women's wrestling at the collegiate level” said Nick Cegelski, captain of the USC Wrestling Club.

“There needs to be a greater emphasis on the promotion of the sport and making it accessible to the average fan.”

Reach Staff Reporter Taiu Kunimoto here and follow him on Twitter